So I decided that I would just take an email and describe to you what the wonderful world of Paraguay is like in the eyes of Elder Beatty.
So number one. In my area where I am stationed, there are only a few paved streets. Very rarely do you come across a road that is paved. If it is paved it is paved very badly, but oh well its paved. This street could be a 2 way street or a 1 way street. There are no traffic laws whatsoever. So you can drive pretty much drive as fast as you want; as close to everyone else as you want; or whatever you want practically. Its kinda cool. I would like it because if someone is slow you just juice it past them. There are mostly small cars and very small motorcycles or scooters that will never pass 200cc´s. Usually if driving either or both of these types of vehicles they will try to cram as many people that is humanly possible to stuff in that car. Once or twice I have seen people holding their babies outside the window because it's safer than having them almost get crushed inside the car. The most people I have seen on a motorcycle is probably 5, I think. The streets that are not paved or some have just plain dirt which are layed with a shale stone called empidrada. We call this Satan´s rock because it practically annihilates your feet through your shoes. Mostly because after the rocks have been rained and driven on a couple times the points of the rocks just seem to poke out. I would have to say we are walking on that 70 percent of the day. Oh we love it.
One thing I thought was cool was that everywhere they have these security boxes. Part of your rent is spent to pay someone to sit in the box at night so that they can call the police if things go south fast. I thought that was pretty cool, until I saw practically all these guys in every box just drinking and smoking hehe. There are dogs EVERYWHERE!! It's crazy how many homeless dogs you see. One story about dogs was that me and Elder Hewitt were walking at night to a lesson and we were just talking and weren´t paying attention and this HUGE dog was in front of us and about to bite our heads off. Elder Hewitt taught me this trick about dogs. All you gotta do is reach down like your gonna grab a rock to throw at them and they run away. Well I put it to the test and sure enough the dog went running back to its house still barking at us. But it was still way cool. I thought I had the force.
Most people here live in open houses. They usually have 1 or 2 closed off rooms just to sleep in but everything else is open. Their kitchens and all of it just has an open wall to outside because the weather here will usually permit that. They usually all have fences around their houses so you have to clap them to get their attention. Its pretty rare if anyone has more than a motorcycle. Usually the very high middle class have cars and the high poorer class have motos.
There are all these things called dispensas. Its practically when people take the front room of their house and make it into a small store. You can find your basic needs, coke, beer, cigarettes, porn, basic food items, cookies, wafers, some variety of sodas, and probably other arrays of items that I have not yet encountered. The money transfer here is for every dollar you can get about 4mil guaranis. So practically 1 guarani is worth nothing. 1 guarani will get you 4 peices of this bread called pan de agua or ¨agua bread¨ it is very yummy and I find that it is about the closest thing to american bread so yes we buy very very much agua bread and go through it very very fast as well. 2 mil guarani will buy you a very cheap roll of cookies. 4 mill of guarani will buy you some wafers that are very very nice. 500 guarani will buy you 1 egg. so on and so forth.
If you get to eat with the people, they will usually give you something that is COVERED in oil. Noodles covered in Oil or rice covered in oil. I guess they just assume we like oil or thats just how they eat things. the fast food that they have here are empinadas. If you don´t know what it is google it.
We have about 35 people in our ward. That is not how many members there are. Most of them live too far from the chapel to walk there every Sunday. Our bishop joined the paratroopers in Paraguay when he was 16 years old. He is very faithful and very strong in his testimony. I´m greatful for his testimony to the people in our ward and they are always learning from his example, as am I. Our ward mission leader is a 69 year old man named Irala. He works everyday in his chacra, planting manioca. An honest hardworking man that is trying to do his best in the gospel. They rest of the pèople that usually come to church fluctuates because there is never usually the same people there. There is about a 3 week rotation. And it greatly depends on the weather. If its raining no one will come. Or if its too hot no one will come. But thats what makes it fun. Its always a challenge to get them there.
Everyone is open to your message. You really won´t find a person that will just shut you out at first. They will always be open and gracious about having you in their homes. They will always give you the best seats and offer you any kind of food that they have. The hardest part for these people is trying to see that there is a change required to receive blessings. People are just content to be where they are and have what they have and not progress.
The thing we are here to do is to help people to understand what it takes to become more happy. This is a gospel of love. God loved us that He created a plan for us to have a body. He loved us even more, so He sent us his Son so that we could have a way to return. Jesus loved us so much that he suffered and died for our sins. God now has restored His gospel on this earth because He wants his love to spread to every nation, kindred, and tongue. I know that the love of God is real. I see it as it changes peoples lives. As they turn to the love of God they are able to accomplish things they never thought was possible. I hope that you all know that God loves you. Not just us as a people but every single person individual. And He knows you. He knows your joy and He knows your suffering. And He is there for you to lean onto when you need help. I know that is the message we carry. I will continue to carry it in the rain, wet from the water, or in shine, wet from the sweat of my back. I know this gospel changes lives and its the reason we all can sacrifice ourselves to have it. I love you all and I wish you best.
Amo a mi familia
-Elder Beatty
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